Thursday, May 29, 2008

College Radio in Colorado Springs

The diverse nature of college radio is always evident in places where there are multiple college radio stations. A recent article from The Colorado Springs Gazette provides a run-down on the variety of stations in the area, including the newest SOCC at Colorado College. According to the article:

"In the dimly lit basement of radio station KRCC, DJs Alex Horner and Scott Ventrudo are playing Mongolian hip-hop on Colorado College's new student radio station, SOCC.

A sign on the wall warns students 'Think before you speak!' and another advises 'If you wouldn't say it in front of your friend's grandmother, then don't say it.'

That's college radio for you. College stations can be a training ground for the DJs of tomorrow or just a way for music lovers to share their favorite tunes. They can be the voice of the campus or reach out to the entire community. Some have thousands of listeners, some just a few dozen.

Colorado Springs is home to four college stations - at Colorado College, the Air Force Academy, Pikes Peak Community College and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs."

The stations outlined in the article include:

SOCC (Colorado College)The newest station, SOCC at Colorado College, is truly a student-run station and has only been around since March 2008. It can only be heard on KRCC's HD subchannel or online.

KRCC-FM (Colorado College)According to their website, KRCC had its origins in the 1940s over the campus public address system and first went on the air in 1951 "as the first non-commercial educational FM radio station in the state of Colorado." It's now a professionally run NPR-affiliate at Colorado College which hosts SOCC's Internet-feed and HD signal.

KAFA 97.7 FM (Air Force Academy)The cadet-run radio station of the Air Force Academy has a mostly alternative rock format. The station's been around since 1964, but has moved frequencies several times. It's only been since early this month that they've been broadcasting on the Internet for a wider audience.

KEPC 89.7 FM (Pikes Peak Community College)Non-commercial student radio station (on FM and online) that serves as a training ground for future radio professionals. A few times a day they air informational shows like "Microbe World." According to the Gazette piece: "At many colleges, students come to school and might discover radio. At KEPC, radio is school. Only nine students are accepted into the radio internship each semester and nearly all of them expect to soon be working in radio professionally soon."

iSAMI (University of Colorado at Colorado Springs)Internet-only student radio station that began in 2003 as a computer science project. As a nod to their origins, the station name iSAMI stands for "Internet Streaming Audio Media Infrastructure." Some of their shows include "Cops and Coffee" where campus safety issues are discussed, "All that Fiddle" (poetry discussions), and "Your Computer Future" (chats with Engineering faculty). They also air music shows. According to their website: "The UCCS Internet Radio Station is on 24/7. We play all sorts of artists, old and new, from all genres. We also have talk shows, interviews, documentaries, and news shows. We can accommodate anyone who wants to do a show of any conceivable kind. We are not beholden to any specific programming format."